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Freaking microsoft

I have just been forced to update to windows 7 and office 2010. I have been using word 97 with the Hebrew add in for years and it was fine...I cannot now seem to input Hebrew from right to left, and the characters do not match what was previously on my keyboard.

If anyone has got a way to resolve this painlessly, PLEASE let me know.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the "Hebrew add in," but I'm guessing that you've been using the old style TrueType fonts. (Have you been using bwhebb?) If so, don't get mad at Microsoft. The upgrade to Unicode fonts is very desirable and was widely demanded by biblical scholars.
So, what to do? Here's a page I created w/ info for my students: http://www.gettysburgseminary.org/mh...reek/fonts.htm

The easiest solution is the one at the top and will link you to the Tyndale Unicode Font Kit.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by the "Hebrew add in," but I'm guessing that you've been using the old style TrueType fonts. (Have you been using bwhebb?) If so, don't get mad at Microsoft. The upgrade to Unicode fonts is very desirable and was widely demanded by biblical scholars.
So, what to do? Here's a page I created w/ info for my students: http://www.gettysburgseminary.org/mh...reek/fonts.htm

The easiest solution is the one at the top and will link you to the Tyndale Unicode Font Kit.

Perhaps you wouldn't mind giving some additional information on this? I've been using unicode Greek with Windows 2011 for the last few years and it works like a charm. But I've always found unicode Hebrew frustrating to the point of pulling my hair out and concluded that the results aren't worth the hassle. So I'm still using BWhebb for anything in OT. That's not huge problem, and the BW Hebrew font actually looks quite nice, but if I want to give an electronic document to someone, it either has to be pdf (and even then it isn't always compatible from one computer to another), or that person has to download and install the BW font. Not to mention any kind of published work.

Rightly or wrongly, I'm not up to shelling out the money for Nota Bene, as David R. has suggested on several occasions, at least not for the moment--although granted, David, the samples you put up recently do look quite nice. So what exactly does the Tyndale font kit do? Is there a very noticeable difference between that and merely copying a verse from BW into the text with the settings set for export in unicode? Another question: does it work for Mac as well as PCs?

Thanks for any information you can give on this, I'm really very interested!

The Tyndale Font Kit is just a quick and simple way to install a Unicode font (Cardo) and the Unicode keyboards needed to type in Greek or Hebrew. Typing in Hebrew requires some extra settings to do right to left, but the Font Kit either takes care of it for you (or walks you through the process). I don't particularly like their Greek keyboard (namely, you have to type accents and breathings before you type the vowel), so I actually use another solution. (Keyman I'll mention in a moment) The Tyndale Font Kit does have installers for Macs and a variety of Windows.

There is some variety with Greek keyboards in terms of character placement (is ξ on X or C?), but it is more of an issue with Hebrew keyboards. אּ וחטעצשׂשׁת and the vowels could all be placed on a variety of keys, and then you have to deal with doubled and final forms...

So, if you don't have a lot of Hebrew to type--and you are using Windows--another option is Logos' Shibboleth:https://www.logos.com/shibboleth
It's a lightweight little application, but it's nice because it's all visual for entering all the Hebrew characters and points. Great if you need occasional Syriac or Coptic too...

The solution I use is Tavultesoft Keyman. The Light version (2 keyboards) is USD $23 or about 115 French Francs. Works on about everything (including web, Android, iPhones, Windows, but not Macs), and it simply works. Depending on the keyboard, you can even have an onscreen display pop up.

The Tyndale Font Kit is just a quick and simple way to install a Unicode font (Cardo) and the Unicode keyboards needed to type in Greek or Hebrew. Typing in Hebrew requires some extra settings to do right to left, but the Font Kit either takes care of it for you (or walks you through the process). I don't particularly like their Greek keyboard (namely, you have to type accents and breathings before you type the vowel), so I actually use another solution. (Keyman I'll mention in a moment) The Tyndale Font Kit does have installers for Macs and a variety of Windows.

There is some variety with Greek keyboards in terms of character placement (is ξ on X or C?), but it is more of an issue with Hebrew keyboards. אּ וחטעצשׂשׁת and the vowels could all be placed on a variety of keys, and then you have to deal with doubled and final forms...

So, if you don't have a lot of Hebrew to type--and you are using Windows--another option is Logos' Shibboleth:https://www.logos.com/shibboleth
It's a lightweight little application, but it's nice because it's all visual for entering all the Hebrew characters and points. Great if you need occasional Syriac or Coptic too...

The solution I use is Tavultesoft Keyman. The Light version (2 keyboards) is USD $23 or about 115 French Francs. Works on about everything (including web, Android, iPhones, Windows, but not Macs), and it simply works. Depending on the keyboard, you can even have an onscreen display pop up.

Thanks Mark. So if I'm understanding correctly, all that is basically for typing Greek and Hebrew? With Mac (and I think PCs should be the same) you can simply set up a toggle on the language settings and type in unicode Polytonic Greek or Hebrew, complete with keyboard visualization if you need it, to see where the letters are that you need to type. It's actually just the local language settings for for Greek and Israeli users. I use that when I want to type in Greek.

My problem is more with the way unicode Hebrew quotes integrate into a Word document, in particular segments of Hebrew text quoted in the middle of a sentence. I'm not so much thinking of single words but phrases or partial phrases. For me, it always seems to wreak havoc. There may be some setting in Word that will clear it up, but I've never found it. Any ideas?

Depending on your version of Word, there may be issues with the Hebrew. Somewhere I recall a discussion about problems earlier versions of Word had. I know that they are at least fixed in Office 2013 and Office 365.

Depending on your version of Word, there may be issues with the Hebrew. Somewhere I recall a discussion about problems earlier versions of Word had. I know that they are at least fixed in Office 2013 and Office 365.